Posts tagged “habituation”

Posted on May 12th, 2012

We have all heard how tame the animals of the Galapagos are: tourists can walk right up to a Booby or Iguana or Hawk, and they do not flee. More extreme is St. Mark’s Square in Italy, famous for its pigeons landing on the heads and shoulders and hands of tourists. Your nearest city park may have its own phenomena, with squirrels eating out of someone’s hand. If you yearn to get closer to wildlife, it is a thrill to find animals that don’t flee when we approach, or that approach us. A thrill, and very surprising. How can this be, when wildlife is usually so much more wild? I’ve asked tour guides, naturalists, photographers, park rangers, and armchair naturalists about this, but always…